* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Chapter 1 - nrsociology
Labeling theory wikipedia , lookup
Social Darwinism wikipedia , lookup
Development theory wikipedia , lookup
Social network wikipedia , lookup
Sociology of the family wikipedia , lookup
Social constructionism wikipedia , lookup
Social exclusion wikipedia , lookup
Postdevelopment theory wikipedia , lookup
Social development theory wikipedia , lookup
Social group wikipedia , lookup
Symbolic interactionism wikipedia , lookup
Structural functionalism wikipedia , lookup
Differentiation (sociology) wikipedia , lookup
Public sociology wikipedia , lookup
Sociology of terrorism wikipedia , lookup
Sociology of culture wikipedia , lookup
Unilineal evolution wikipedia , lookup
Index of sociology articles wikipedia , lookup
History of sociology wikipedia , lookup
Data File 1 Chapter 1 The Sociological Perspective I. The Sociological Perspective. A. Sociology is the systematic study of human society. B. The sociological perspective helps us to see general social patterns in the behavior of particular individuals. C. It also encourages us to realize that society guides our thoughts and deeds — to see the strange in the familiar. D. Sociology also encourages us to see individuality in social context. 1. For example, Emile Durkheim’s research showed that the suicide rate was strongly influenced by the extent to which people were socially integrated with others. II. The Importance of Global Perspective. A. Sociologists also strive to see issues in global perspective, defined as the study of the larger world and our society’s place in it. 1. WINDOW ON THE WORLD—Global Map 1–1: Women’s Childbearing in Global Perspective. A look around the world shows that childbearing is not a personal choice. Women living in poor countries have many more children than women living in rich nations. B. There are three different types of nations in the world. 1. The world’s high-income countries are industrialized nations in which most people have relatively high incomes. 2. The world’s middle-income countries have limited industrialization and moderate personal income. 3. The world’s low-income countries have little industrialization and most people are poor. 4. GLOBAL SOCIOLOGY BOX—The Global Village: A Social Snapshot of Our World. Think of the population breakdown if the world were a village of one thousand people. 5. Global thinking is an important component of the sociological perspective for four reasons: a. Where we live makes a great difference in shaping our lives. b. Societies the world over are increasingly interconnected, making traditional distinctions between “us” and “them” less and less valid. c. Many human problems faced in the United States are far more serious elsewhere. Data File 2 d. Thinking globally is a good way to learn more about ourselves. 6. WINDOW ON THE WORLD—Global Map 1–2: Economic Development in Global Perspective. In high-income countries, a highly productive economy provides people with material plenty. Middle-income countries are less economically productive while low-income countries have severe and extensive poverty. III. Applying the Sociological Perspective. A. Certain situations like the following promote a sociological way of viewing reality. 1. Experiencing social marginality, the state of being excluded from social activity as an “outsider.” People at the margins of social life are aware of social patterns that others rarely think about. 2. Living through periods of social crisis like the Great Depression or the 1960s. B. Benefits of the sociological perspective. 1. The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of “common sense.” 2. The sociological perspective helps us assess both opportunities and constraints in our lives. 3. The sociological perspective empowers us to be active participants in our society. 4. The sociological perspective helps us to live in a diverse world. C. The application of sociology is evident in the role that sociology has had in shaping public policy and law in many ways. A background in sociology is also good preparation for the working world. An increasing number of sociologists work in all sorts of applied fields. 1. CRITICAL THINKING BOX—The Sociological Imagination: Turning Personal Problems into Public Issues. The power of the sociological perspective lies not just in changing individual lives but in transforming society. IV. The Origins of Sociology. A. Three major social changes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are important to the development of sociology. 1. The rise of a factory-based industrial economy. 2. The emergence of great cities in Europe. 3. Political changes, including a rising concern with individual liberty and rights. The French Revolution symbolized this dramatic break with political and social tradition. B. Auguste Comte believed that the major goal of sociology was to understand society as it actually operates. Comte favored positivism—a way of understanding based on science. Comte saw sociology as the product of a three-stage historical development: 1. The theological stage, in which thought was guided by religion. 2. The metaphysical stage, a transitional phase. Data File 3 3. The scientific stage. C. Auguste Comte and Karl Marx are well-known political pioneers of sociology. Other sociological pioneers who made important contributions include Harriet Martineau, Jane Addams, and William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, all pushed to the margins of society. V. Sociological Theory. A. A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related. The goal of sociological theory is to explain social behavior in the real world. For example, SEEING OURSELVES—National Map 1–1 shows suicide rates across the United States. B. Theories are based on theoretical paradigms, sets of assumptions that guide thinking and research. Sociologists ask two basic questions: What issues should we study? How should we connect the facts? There are three major sociological paradigms: 1. The structural-functional paradigm is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. a. It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures (relatively stable patterns of social behavior). b. Each social structure has social functions, or consequences, for the operation of society as a whole. c. Key figures in the development of this paradigm include Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer, and Talcott Parsons. d. Robert Merton introduced three concepts related to social function: 1) manifest functions, the recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern 2) latent functions, largely unrecognized and unintended consequences and 3) social dysfunctions, undesirable consequences of a social pattern for the operation of society. e. Critical Evaluation: The influence of this paradigm has declined in recent decades. 1) It focuses on stability, thereby ignoring inequalities of social class, race, and gender. 2. The social-conflict paradigm is a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change. Most sociologists who favor the conflict paradigm attempt not only to understand society but also to reduce social inequality. a. Key figures in this tradition include Karl Marx and W. E. B. Du Bois. b. Critical evaluation: This paradigm has developed rapidly in recent years. It has several weaknesses. 1) It ignores social unity based on mutual interdependence and shared values. 2) Because it is explicitly political, it cannot claim scientific objectivity. Data File 4 3) Like the structural-functional paradigm, it envisions society in terms of broad abstractions. c. DIVERSITY: RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER BOX—An Early Pioneer: Du Bois on Race. Du Bois, one of sociology’s pioneers, wanted to apply sociology to solving the problems of his time, especially racial inequality. 3. The symbolic-interaction paradigm is a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals. a. The structural-functional and the social-conflict paradigms share a macrolevel orientation, meaning that they focus on broad social structures that shape society as a whole. In contrast, symbolic-interactionism has a micro-level orientation; it focuses on patterns of social interaction in specific settings. b. Key figures in the development of this paradigm include Max Weber, George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman, George Homans, and Peter Blau. c. Critical evaluation: Symbolic interactionism attempts to explain more clearly how individuals actually experience society. However, it has two weaknesses: 1) Its micro-orientation sometimes results in the error of ignoring the influence of larger social structures. 2) By emphasizing what is unique, it risks overlooking the effects of culture, class, gender, and race. 4. Applying the Paradigms: The sociology of sports. a. The functions of sports. A structural-functional approach directs attention to the ways sports help society to operate. b. Sports and conflict. A social-conflict analysis points out that sports are closely linked to social inequality. c. Sports as interaction. The symbolic-interaction paradigm sees sports less as a system than as an ongoing process. 5. CONTROVERSY AND DEBATE BOX—Is Sociology Nothing More Than Stereotypes? In contrast to stereotypes, good sociology involves making generalizations, but with three important conditions. a. Sociologists do not indiscriminately apply any generalization to all individuals. b. Sociologists are careful that a generalization squares with available facts. c. Sociologists offer generalizations fair-mindedly, with an interest in getting at the truth. Data File Chapter Objectives 5 Data File 6 1) Define sociology and examine the components of the sociological perspective. 2) Explain the importance of a global perspective for sociology. 3) Examine how social marginality and social crisis encourage people to use the sociological perspective. 4) Identify and describe four benefits of using the sociological perspective. 5) Identify and discuss three social changes especially important to the development of sociology. 6) Identify and describe the three-stage historical development of sociology as a science. 7) Discuss the importance of theory in sociology. 8) Summarize the main assumptions of the three major theoretical paradigms in sociology.